Why is PM mum on JPC demand, asks CPI(M)

New Delhi: The CPI(M) Saturday flayed Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh for "keeping mum" on the demand for a
JPC probe into the irregularities in 2G spectrum allocation.

It also targeted the government for "creating a situation
so that Parliament does not run" by not accepting the
Opposition demand for an inquiry into the spectrum scam by a
Joint Parliamentary Committee.

"Government should accept our demand for a JPC probe. Why
is the Prime Minister keeping mum on the JPC issue," Basudeb
Acharia, leader of the party in Lok Sabha, told reporters here
on the sidelines of the CPI(M) central committee meeting.

"It is the government which is creating an atmosphere
that is not allowing Parliament to run," Acharia said.

Breaking his silence amidst the logjam in Parliament, the
Prime Minister today promised action against anybody for any
"wrong thing" done in the 2G spectrum allocation.

Acharia`s party colleague Sitaram Yechury has already
made it clear that CPI(M) would not relent on its demand for a
JPC probe into the 2G spectrum scam.

"On 2G spectrum, we are very clear that there is no other
way out now particularly after the Supreme Court coming into
the picture and trying to draw in the Prime Minister," he had
said, adding there was "no way except for a JPC probe".

He had also asked the government to recover "Rs 1,76,000
crore lost to the exchequer" due to the 2G Spectrum allocation
scam, saying the country could not afford to lose such a huge
amount at a time it is seeking to achieve food security.

"To provide 35 kg of rise to every family of India --
APL, BPL, everybody, what you require is an additional food
subsidy of Rs 85,000 crore. You can achieve food security in
India with Rs 85,000 crore. You have lost 1,76,000 crore
according to the CAG in this scam," Yechury had said
yesterday.

"So it is not only a question of morality that it is,
but it is also a question of our own country, our own people.
What is the livelihood standard we are going to give them. So
we are very serious about this matter that (government should)
punish the guilty and recover the money," he had said.